Live coverage: Japanese asteroid mission blasts off

A Falcon 9 rocket carried 60 more Starlink internet satellites into orbit early Thursday after swapping places with another Starlink mission SpaceX’s fast-paced launch schedule. Liftoff from pad 40 at Cape Canaveral Space Force Station occurred at 1:19 a.m. EST (0619 GMT).

Seven small satellites rode a Rocket Lab Electron rocket into orbit Saturday from New Zealand. Carrying commercial, military and student payloads, the Electron launcher lifted off at 0430 GMT (12:30 a.m. EDT).

A Japanese H-2B rocket fired into orbit Tuesday from the Tanegashima Space Center with an automated cargo freighter loaded with more than 4.1 tons of batteries, experiments, spacewalk equipment, water and provisions for the International Space Station.